Building structure and air circulation therefor



A ril 8, 1941. c, E JONES 2,237,831

BUILDING STRUCTURE AND AIR CIRCULATION THEREFOR Filed Oct. 24, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR CLARENCE ERROLL JONES April 8, 1941. C E. JONESBUILDING STRUCTURE AND AIR CIHCULATION THEREFOR Filed Oct. 24, 1938 2Sheets-Sheet 2 H 541K F VENTOR CE [ERROLL JONES BY wflyvw ATTORNEYSPatented Apr. 8, 1941 BUILDING STRU CIBCULATI 7 Claims.

This invention relates to a building structure and more particularly toan arrangement oi a building structure which provides a novel aircirculating system.

This applicationzis a continuation in part of CTUREANDAIR N THEREFORClarence Erroll Jones, Euclid, Ohio Application October 24, 1938, SerialNo. 236,663

my copending application Serial No. 35,975, filed August 13, 1935.

One object of the invention is to provide air outlet means extendingalong substantially the entire length of certain walls of a room and a.

novel arrangement of air circulating passageways along the walls andbeneath the floors of certain rooms in a buildin structure,

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of aircirculating passageways adapted to remove moisture from the walls orfloors of certain rooms and return the air to the same or. other rooms,utilizing the moisture picked up in connection with the control of thehumidity of the circulated air.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel building elementsadapted for use in certain portions of my improved air circulatingsystem.

Other objects and purposes include special arrangements of the walls andfloors of a building to provide air passageways and the combination ofmy improved air circulating system with var-' ious control equipment forregulating the air conditions in the building.

In the drawings, Fig, 1 is a plan view of the lower floor of a house;Fig. 2 is a plan view of the upper floor of the same house; Fig. 3 is asectional elevation taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is adiagrammatic view of a portion of the air conditioning equipment; Figs.5 and 6 are detail sectional elevations of certain novel buildingelements utilized in my improved air circulating system; Fig. 7 is asectional view along the line 1-4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a modifiedbasepoard construction; while Fig. 9 is a detail of a plate in thestructure of Fig, 8.

While my invention is applicable to many sizes and styles of buildings,I have chosen to illustrate the same as embodied in a small residencebut I do not desire to be limited to its application in this type ofbuilding structure but desire to claim the same broadly as determined bythe scope of the appended claims.

The dwelling illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is of a type which uses ashallow excavation for the basement whereby the rooms on the lower floorare only partly below grade, thus enabling me to use certain of thoserooms for living rooms. Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, the planshown provides a kitchen Ill and a dining room ll separated by apartition l2 from a basement portion l3 which may be used for the aircon ditioning equipment, coal bin, laundry tubs, etc. The plan for theupper iloor shown in Fig. 2 proform air circulation from passageways 26before they vides a living room I4, bedrooms II and I8 and a bathroomII. The outer walls are exposed to extremes of heat and cold and have atendency to absorb moisture and I provide an air circulating systemutilizing hollow walls on the exposed iaces oi the building throughwhich the air is circulated and from which I derive one or I more ofseveral advantages. In the first place,

the air passageways form an insulation for the inner rooms. In thesecond place, the circulating air current removes the extreme heat orcold from the outer walls of the rooms and, in the third place, if theouter walls are moist the circulating air will pick up this moisturewhich prevents the damp walls sometimes found on the exposed sides ofrooms and at the same time supplies moisture in the air circulatingcurrent in the living room space which is generally desirable when roomsare closed and provided with a heating system which dries out the air.

In the type of dwelling illustrated wherein tile for the air circulationsystem. The walls ll rest upon a footing is which is well below theground level 20. Air passageways are provided in rooms l0 and H by means01' iurrlng strips II which are secured in vertical position to the walll8 and carry on their inner surfaces the finishing wall 22. The lowerfloor comprises a subiloor 23 of concrete, masonry or the like uponwhich rest sleepers 24 which. carry the finish floor 25. Between thesleepers 24 are thus provided horizontally extending parallelpassageways 26 which communicate at 21 with the vertically extendingpassageways 28 provided between the furring strips. This arrangement ofthe passageways '28 and 28 insures a'substantially unialong the walls 29and 30 and a substantially uniform distribution of the air circulationbeneath the floors of rooms I! and II. Where necessary or desirable airpassageways are provided through-strips 2| or between the strips and thewall as by the nailing strips so as to equalize air flow along theentire wall and to insure a flow of air along portions of the wall aboveand below windows.

Means is provided for uniting the air currents enter the airconditioning equipment and in the embodiment shown the sub-floor 23 isdropped at the point 23a so as to provide a space 2| below the sleepers24. Air outlet from this space is provided at one I or more points 32and leads to the air conditioning equipment which is a duct 33 isprovided which indicated generally at 84.

My inventionis useful wherever it is desirable to bring air downwardlyalong an outside wall and then. laterally beneath a floor which must bekept dry. For instance, it might be applied to a house set directly uponthe ground without necessarily being a hall-story below ground level. Inany case, air on the way to the tan passes evenly over an outsidevertical wall and then between a floor and the damp ground so that thesaid wall and floor are kept dry.

Any suitable air conditioning equipment may be utilized with my aircirculating system but for illustrative purposes I have shown in Fig. 4a filter to, s ion 36, aspray chamber ll, and an air heating furnace to.Water to: the spray chamber is provided through a pipe 259 through whichflow is controlled by a, solenoid operated valve to. This valve issupplied with operating current from a suitable source oi electricalsupply and may be controlled by a humidostet located at a suitableposition in one or the sec and which may be adjusted for the humiditydesired in the rooms. The air passing through ducts 2B, 26, 8t, 82 and83 passes through the air conditioning equipment 85 and is distributedthrough suitable conduits. For instance, conduit 58 cupplies room iiiand through branch conduit 63c supplies room i l. (ion hit (it suppliesroom ii; conduit 65 supplies rooms i l and iii; while conduit iii;supplies rooms i6 and ill.

Means is provided for removing air from one oi the rooms,. for instanceroom i l, along sub= stentially the entire outer walls thereof edit thefloor. The means shown comprises a slotted opening or openings it whichin the present instance is provided by a novel baseboard structure,three lorms of which are illustrated in Figs. [5, 6 and 8. In Fig. Ihave shown two molding members 38 and G9 extending along the room in theposition of the usual baseboard, these strips being substantiallyparallel and spaced apart so as to provide an air outlet opening at 58.The molding member 68 is secured to the wall it and the molding memberit is secured to the floor 62. I find an additional advantage in thisconstruction in that a relative separation between well ill and floor 52does not draw the baseboard away from the floor as so commonly occurs inother structures but instead merely changes slightly the opening Bil. Adeflector plate 53 is provided to close off the space between theIurring strips upwardly from that point and to deflect the air currentsdownwardly. Aportion 68a of the member 48 extends outwardly anddownwardly sufiicient to mask the ope cs irom observation by a person innormal standing or sitting posture in the room so that thebaseboardgives the appearance of a solid member.

a In the modified baseboard shown in Fig. 6 a continuous strip isprovided of any suitable material which-will hold its form andpreferably is made oi metal. This member 5% may be provided with a bentportion Me by which it is socured to wall 29 and another bent portion 5%by which it is secured to floor 25. The baseboard member extendsdownwardly from its upper edge along the portion 540, then inwardlyalong the portion 54d in a plane which extends at an angle A notsubstantially greater than 30 with the floor line. From this point themember has a portion Me which extends on down to the floor. Through thefor the outlet of air from the room. With the arrangement showntheseopenings in the portion "d are not noticeable by a person standingor sitting in normal posture in the room. The construction of thisbaseboard 54 permits vertical extension thereoi it relative separationtakes place between the floor and wall to which it is fastened, and thiswithout changing the area of the openings in the portion Md.

In Fig. 8 is still another modification having most of the advantages ofthe baseboard 01 Fig. 6 and showing that the entire baseboard need notbe of flexible sheet material. In Fig. 8 a thin metal plate 58 issecured to the side wall at Ru and forms a sealed connection at 5%. Thisplate has a longitudinally extending line oi periorations at 58ccalculated to give the air circulation required in the room. A baseboardfinishing strip 58 of wood or the like is secured to the wall along theupper edge of plate 56 and extends outwardly and downwardly so as toconceal openings 560 from persons in the room. A finishing strip 69 maybe provided at the bottom also. The plate iii: is allowed to slip atbill) so that it permits the necessary play between the walls and doorunder normal shrinkage of the builg members without afiecting the totalarea oi openings 53c, as it is vital in the circulating system thatthese openings remain constant.

With the building structure arranged as shown and described and with theair conditioning equipment connected with the air passageways as thusdescribed, air from room i l passes outwardly through openings ll alongthe baseboards of the walls iii and passes downwardly through thevertical passageways 28 and thence along the horizontal passageways Atthe same time air from rooms it and ii passes outwardly through similarbaseboard openings and Joins the current from the upper rooms whichpasses to the air conditioning equipment as already described. It willbe understood that the humidity oi the air in. the rooms it, ii and Mwill be controlled by the humidostat ii which operates the valve Gil inthe usual manner. It the walls of rooms id, ii and i l or the floors ofrooms is and ii are subject to moisture the air currents will removeexcess moisture and the humidostat ll will cut down the supply of waterthrough conduit 39 by the control of valve 18. On the other hand if thewalls and floors of the rooms are dry, the humidostat will control thevalve 40 to supply the proper moisture required in the living rooms.Temperature control equipment has not been illustrated as the use of thesome along lines analogous to the humidify equipment shown is well knownbut such equipment would also be subject to the varying temperature ofthe air passing through the ducts 28 and 26 and the control would bemodified to the extent that the air was cooled or heated in passingthrough those ducts. For instance, in summer the walls and sub-floorbelow ground level are generally considerably cooler than the atmosphere and air, cooled by contact with these parts, may be recirculatedin the living rooms In like manner, in winter the temperature of thoseparts of the structure below ground may be above atmospheric temperatureand assist in maintaining the desired degree of heat in the livingrooms.

It will be understood that this equipment may also be installed in rooms[5, l5 and il in a manner analogous to that already described inconnection with room ll but such equipment is not portion 64:! areprovided openings illustrated here.

it will be noted that, in the system ofpassageways 41-28-46-31-42-43,the narrowest point is the opening or openings 41. I utilize the size ofthis opening as a control point for the system. The total air handled iscalculated for a given size of fan and a given area of the openingrepresented at 41. The other ducts, particularly 28, 26 and 31 have agreater area than the opening oropenings 41 to insure an equalization ofsuction throughout the system and to reduce the rate of air flow throughthose larger passageways. The same is true or the openings at 54d inFig. 6 and the openings We in Figs. 8 and 9. They are the mostrestricted point in the system and remain constant throughout the lifeof the installation.

I find that an air circulating system using an opening or openingsextending along a great length of wall space so distributes the air thatdrafts are not apparent in the room. The construction shown alsoutilizes an old and well lmown type of building construction to provideair circulating passages without extra cost and without loss ofhabitable space.

1 at I claim is: 1 l. An air circulation systemltor a buildingcomprising, two rooms, one above and one at least partly below groundlevel, said lower room having an outer masonry wall and an innerfinishing wall and furring strips separating said walls, whereby saidspaced walls and Iurring strips provide vertically extending ducts alongsaid wall,

7 said lower room having a subfloor and a finished floor and sleepersseparating said floors, whereby said spaced floors and sleepers providehorizontaliy extending ducts along said floor, said vertical andhorizontal ducts being arranged with a a passageway between them, airoutlet means from said upper room communicating with said vertical,ducts, and means for withdrawing air irom saldhorizontal ducts andreturning said air to said upper room.

v 2. An air circulation system as in claim 1, in

which said horizontal ducts lead to a common duct. and a fan andconduit: are arranged to withdraw air irom-saidcommon duct and deliversaid air to said upper room.

3. An air circulation system for a building having at least one room incontact with the ground, saidone room having a double wall structurecomprising an outer wall subject to moisture and an inner finished wallspaced therefrom and providing a passageway extending over substantiallythe entire area or said outer wall which is subject to moisture, saidroom also having a floor structure comprising an inner finished floorspaced from the ground and providing a second passageway extending oversubstantially the entire area of the under side oi said floor. said wallstructure and floor structure having meeting edges, there being airconducting communication between said passageways along substantiallythe entire length of said meeting edges, heating means tor said airsystem, means for introducing air rrom said building into said firstnamed passageway along a line substantially parallel to and remote fromsaid meeting edges. means for removing air from said second passagewayalong an edge of said floor structure substantially parallel to andremote from said meeting edges and for conducting said air to saidheating means, and means for returning said heated air to said building.

4. An air circulation system tor a building comprising a room having adoor and walls. a

baseboard formed or flexible sheet material ranged to building,

secured along its upper edge to a wall and along its lower edge to afloor of said room, said baseboard beingprovided with openings evenlyspaced along its length for air circulation purposes. duct meanscommunicating with said baseboard openings, fan means for exhausting airfrom said room through said openings and through said duct means, saidbaseboard openings being more restricted than any point in said ductmeans, said duct means providing a suction reservoir on thefan side orsaid baseboard suflicient to insure substantially uniform suction alongsaid openings, whereby with a given fan means air circulation is ofpredetermined velocity along said baseboard independent of relativemovement between said wall and floor or said room during the life of thebuilding.

ing at least one room having an outer wall sub- Jected directly toground moisture, said one room having a wall structure comprising aninner finished wall spaced from said outer wall so as to form apassageway extending over substantially the entire area or said outerwall subject to ground moisture, said room having other walls notsubject to ground moisture, heating means for said air system, means tormoving air from said building through said passageway and to saidheating means, said passageway being arreceive air from said buildingalong substantially the entire length of one edge of said wallstructureand to deliver air along substantially the entire length of the edge ofsaid wall structure opposite the air receiving edge, and means forreturning said heated air to said whereby said heated air is forced topass in a'uniformly distributed manner over said board including a sheetin sealed relation between a wall and the floor 01' said room and permitting relative movement between them, said.

sheet being provided with openings evenly spaced along its length forair circulation purposes, duct means communicating with said baseboardopen-- ings, Ian means for exhausting air from said duct means, saidbaseboardopenings being more room through said openings and throughsaid.

restricted than any and said duct means on the Ian side of v insuresubstantially uniform suction along said openings, whereby with a giventan means air circulation is of predetermined velocity along saidbaseboard independent or relative movement between said wall and flooroi! said room during the life of the building. I

7. In an air circulation system for a building having a hollow wallspace wherein air is circulated Srom a room or said building into saidwall space along a length of baseboard, a baseboard constructioncomprislng an elongated plate extending longitudinally of said baseboardand having a longitudinally extending line 01 perforations for aircirculation therethrough, said plate being secured along one of itslongitudinal edges to said baseboard, and means sealin: the otherlongitudinal edge or said plate to said baseboard in a manner permittingsome relative movement.

CLARENCE ERROIL JONES.

point in said duct means, providing a suction reservoir saidbaseboardsuflicient to

